1999 Brier
SLAM! Sports
SLAM! Curling
1999 BRIER
ON THE ROCKS
INTERACTIVE
ALSO ON SLAM!
Surprise! We find a scalper!
The fact only two or three of them work the passers-by before the three daily draws makes them a little tougher to spot. But they're there.
Scalpers? At the Brier? What's wrong with this picture? Not much, says Danny, who along with his sidekick will make a good buck flipping tickets this week.
"The popularity of the sport is definitely growing," said the 36-year-old, who operates a ticket brokerage firm in Hamilton, Ont., and declined give his last name.
"There's record attendance and they're getting a younger crowd. It's not a 50- and 60-year-old type of crowd but there is a lot of that age group.
"There's a lot of people in my age group. I curl twice a week. I can talk to people intelligently about the game.
"I care what's happening and who is winning. Out of the 17 draws I'll go in and watch 10 to 12. I'll be in for the semi-final."
Danny, who has been making a living brokering tickets the past 15 years, dabbled in Brier tickets when the roaring game invaded Copps Coliseum in '91. He took a flyer on last year's Winnipeg Brier and soon discovered he was the only ticket broker working the event.
Despite braving sub-zero Manitoba temperatures, the profit margin was sizable enough to convince Danny to take another kick at the cat.
He figures he's netting an average of $100 per draw and with 17 draws, the math says that's not a bad piece of change for eight days work.
"I'll buy, sell or trade. It's not a get-rich-quick scheme. I'll make OK money here but my expenses (airfare, hotel, rental car) are fairly big.
"The best stuff is worth $22.50. There hasn't been many $20 bills. It's mostly tens and fives. We'll pay five or $10 and try to make 50 per cent.
"I bet you there was 500 people that walked in for the afternoon draw with tickets that didn't want to give them up. That means there is something that we can do (in terms of brokering)."
Danny dislikes being labelled a scalper, and says he's not into gouging the ticket-buying public.
"Scalper is a slang term and it usually has negative connotations. We always sell under the box office price," he said.
"If we sell 50 tickets out here, we've saved everybody money from going inside.
'`Some may say the Canadian Curling Association needs the money. Well, they're not paying the curlers anything and it's nothing but a cash cow for them. These tickets have already been sold, so they've got that revenue.
"It's not like we're taking revenue away from them. It's revenue they already have. We're just sort of redistributing stuff."